12 Fall 2015 The Middle East

History
12

The class will introduce students to key concepts, terms, and debates in the history of the modern Middle East, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first part of the class will briefly present the history of the region since the rise of Islam in the 7th century and up to the modern period. The second and bulk part of the course, will examine chronologically and thematically an array of topics related to the history of the modern Middle East, including the definition of the term Middle East; the debate about when the modern age started in the Middle East; the influence of the West; efforts of modernization in the 19th century; World War I and the end of the Ottoman Empire; the creation of the current borders in the Middle East; Arab nationalism and Pan-Arabism; the Israeli-Arab conflict; the rise of political Islam; women’s status; Bedouins; the oil economy and more.